Tattoo studio covers up self-harm scars for free

A tattoo artist who covers up people's self-harm scars for free said he receives hundreds of messages for assistance every month.

Lee Nicholls said his studio, The Lucky Turtle Tattoos, Whitchurch, offers a complimentary Mental Health Monday service to members of the public, as well as signposting people to available mental health resources.

The scars are hidden for free one Monday each month and, he added, the business also offers free mastectomy scar cover up and nipple tattooing.

Speaking to BBC Radio Shropshire about the initiative, which launched three years ago, Nicholls said he "did not expect it to go the way it did".

"I thought I'd get a couple of messages locally maybe and that'll be it, [but] we get hundreds of messages every month to help people," he said.

"We've helped over 200 people so far, as well as over a thousand people we've helped, referred them to either other studios... or we've referred them, 'cos they're a bit newer in their journey of healing, to the mental health resources that they might need."

Nicholls, who has been tattooing for 25 years, added "a lot of people can't show their arms, can't show their legs".

"They feel bad and I don't think they should feel bad. But in their head they feel that people are judging them.

"They feel that people are looking at them so we just give them their skin back effectively, and it's honestly the best thing I've done [in] my whole career."

He said some of the customers had never had tattoos before.

"[A] few of them are... novices as it were when they're talking to us as artists.

"It's been really cool just being able to do that for people."

Nicholls said his family, including brother David who has a tattoo shop in South Wales, were tattooists, adding: "We kind of grew up in the game".

He and and his sibling will take over the Shropshire town's Market Hall for a tattoo show on 19 and 20 September, which he said was the first time they'd worked together since he took David on as an apprentice about 15 years ago.

He added the show will have 40 artists, about 10 or 12 local traders, and bands performing.

"We wanted it to just look like a market basically, like a trade show for tattooing."

Nicholls was also voted by Whitchurch as citizen of the year 2025 for his efforts highlighting mental health and work with a food bank.

He said it "means a lot to me like being able to just give back".

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